Pebble Play
Starting with an image of beach shingle, I was playing with various photo-editing tools, or maybe experimenting would be a better word. Here's where I stopped. ...
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Starting with an image of beach shingle, I was playing with various photo-editing tools, or maybe experimenting would be a better word. Here's where I stopped. :)
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Feb, 2015Views
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Awards
Winner in Abstract Expressionism Photo Challenge
Outstanding Creativity
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Genius
Superior Skill
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
Photo was made at some Adriatic beach, probably in Lojena (Levrnaka Island, Kornati National Park).Time
Both the date and time of day escape me, as the original is a slidefilm frame shot decades ago.Lighting
The slidefilm was exposed using pure daylight, and there is lots of it on a white beach in an Adriatic summer day!Equipment
My preferred camera in those days was a Nikonos III, and its allround-capable 35mm UW Nikkor. The film exposed was Fujichrome Sensia (100ASA). No other equipment was used for this one.Inspiration
Spending much time in Kornati National Park, my friends, diving buddies and me delighted in photographing everything we saw. Our favorite camping island had, among other things, one of the most beautiful shingle beaches you can imagine. It was covered in sun-bleached, whiter-than-white wave-rounded pebbles, all covered with sun-reflecting salt crystals. An inspiration in itself, this beach is/was a theme to photograph in all compositions ranging from landscapes to close-ups.Editing
There was a tad more post-processing with this shot than usual. It started with scanning of the slidefilm, and trying to optimise results, since the scanner available to me back then was pretty poor. The abstract theme that it was, it was wide open to various effects and modification attempts. I used Corel Suite's PhotoPaint for most of the modifications and there is a wide range of effects and tweaks within the program. At some moment I arrived at this version and simply stopped... Somehow it seemed enough, or "appropriate". I then cropped the results to the current frame, and resized for upload. That's about it.In my camera bag
In those days, carrying all the underwater photo equipment and material for three to four weeks trip to a distant Adriatic island required a densely packed suitcase! There were cameras, lenses, servicing tools, all kinds of reserves and spares, including the full complement of (non-rechargeable) flash batteries, dozens of film rolls, all the gear and chemicals for on-site E-6 processing, without even mentioning the nightmarish quantities of diving equipment, compressor and outboards fuel and lubricants, more tools, cooking utensils, canned food, etcetera... Nowadays, it's easy. Whatever I need fits nicely into the pockets of my photo vest - I prefer it to any photo bag. I usually carry two cameras and spares for each. I'll usually take along a stack of ND filters and a CPL, a camera clamp and not much more. Lots can be improvised on-site without carrying much weight.Feedback
Abstract themes are literally everywhere, and Nature is full of repetitive forms like shingle, bark, shrubbery, clouds, wavelets and such. Simply cut out a part of the scene, and you have then an endless variety of ways to express what you see in those. And then there are thousands of photo-editing programs, filters, plugins, effects... I couldn't begin to suggest all that comes to mind with all this wealth of possibilites - so I won't! Just one suggestion, maybe. Use the effects and tweaks sparingly, in small increments. Whatever you do, let the original theme remain recognizable, and always start with properly made photo. One can not tweak a sloppily made photo into something good, period. Begin with basically beautiful and technically correctly exposed photo, and experiment with a copy of it. Sometimes it just so happens that, after everything you do, the original still appears the most attractive version! Anyway, what will always remain is the fun you've had with your work - and ultimately, it's fun what counts!
